Brewery Technology

Fabdec have proven capabilities in the design and manufacture of high quality stainless steel vessels for the Brewery industry. With nearly sixty years' experience and with a range that offers the best in product design and energy efficiency whether for cooling, heating, storage or processing, Fabdec have a solution for any application.

Cold liquor tanks are used within the brewing process and provide sterile water for brewing, free of any odour or flavour taint. Hot liquor tanks are containers where the brewing water is heated to mash temperature with the water coming from a cold liquor tank. Brewing salts may also be added to this source water.

Mashing converts the starches released during the malting stage into sugars that can be fermented. The milled grain is mixed with hot water in a large vessel known as a mash tun where the grain and water are mixed together to create a cereal mash.

The result of the mashing process is a sugar rich liquid or "wort" which is then strained through the bottom of the mash tun in a process known as lautering. Mash tuns have a mixing paddle on the bottom to ensure that the mix of water and malt is constantly.

The ‘Copper’ wort kettles are used to produce an intense boil, required for the brewing process. The wort is boiled in the kettle at atmospheric pressure, and through careful control the inlets and outlets on the external boiler, an overpressure can be achieved in the external boiler, raising the boiling point by a few Celsius degrees. Upon return to the boil kettle, a vigorous vaporisation occurs. The higher temperature due to increased vaporization can reduce boil times up to 30%.

Fermentation is the conversion of carbohydrates to alcohols under anaerobic conditions. After the wort is cooled and aerated – usually with sterile air – yeast is added to it and fermentation begins. It is during this stage that sugars from the malt are converted into alcohol and carbon dioxide and the product can be called beer for the first time.

Fermentation happens cylindro-conical fermentation vessels (CCVs,) which have a conical bottom and a cylindrical top. The cone's aperture is typically around 60°, an angle that will allow the yeast to flow towards the cone's apex, but is not so steep as to take up too much vertical space. CCVs can handle both fermenting and conditioning in the same tank. At the end of fermentation, the yeast and other solids which have fallen to the cone's apex can be simply flushed out of a port at the apex.

Stainless steel plate heat exchangers for rapid cooling of wort. The Herringbone profile plates are designed to ‘roll’ the flow of beer and water. Food grade rubber gaskets are clipped onto the plates and high quality stainless steel end plates.

Fabdec MAGNUS plate coolers are floor-mounted and range in size depending on your volume of beer.

Fabdec KOOL-PAK ice builders are used in conjunction with plate coolers to provide ice water for additional pre-cooling of the beer, helping to improve its quality. They are economical to run as they largely use over night electricity on a cheap night rate to build the ice bank and have potential to cut cooling costs by a third.